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PlayStation Studio Boss Breaks Silence On Dev Fired For Charlie Kirk Joke

by admin September 19, 2025

For the last week, a war has been waging in the YouTube comments of each new Ghost of Yotei trailer as the PlayStation 5 exclusive nears its release date early next month. That’s because a developer at Sucker Punch Productions joked about the assassination of Charlie Kirk on social media. Sony confirmed it parted ways with the employee following a right-wing pressure campaign, but declined to issue any further statement. Now studio head and co-founder, Brian Fleming, has commented on the firing directly in a new interview.

The Sucker Punch artist Drew Harrison, a nearly 10-year veteran of the studio, had posted “I hope the shooter’s name is Mario so that Luigi knows his bro got his back” on the day the assassination took place. Less than 24 hours later she confirmed she fired. “Drew Harrison is no longer an employee of Sucker Punch Productions,” a spokesperson for Sony told Kotaku at the time.

“The facts are accurate,” Fleming Stephen Totilo’s Game File on Friday when asked about the situation. “Drew’s no longer an employee here. I think we’re aligned as a studio that celebrating or making light of someone’s murder is a deal-breaker for us, and we condemn that, kind of in no uncertain terms. That’s sort of our studio, and that’s kind of where we are.”

YouTube / Kotaku

Despite Harrison’s swift firing, angry internet users, urged on by clout chasing culture warriors like Mark ‘Grummz’ Kern, have been demanding Sony take action against any staff members who may have liked or reposted Harrison’s comment, while also targeting other companies and their employees over potential anti-Kirk sentiment. That included Bethesda, which was accused of mocking the right-wing podcast’s supporters when it posted a clip from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle of the famous Nazi puncher saying to a kitten, “You don’t care much about these fascists, do you?” It was later deleted.

Microsoft Gaming employees were also targeted, including by Elon Musk. “We’re aware of the views expressed by a small subset of our employees regarding recent events,” the company announced in response on September 12. “We take matters like this very seriously and we are currently reviewing each individual situation. Comments celebrating violence against anyone are unacceptable and do not align with our values.” A spokesperson for the company declined to comment when asked if anyone had been fired from Microsoft following these investigations.

“Sucker Punch is amazing & one of the last few bright shining lights in the game industry,” Harrison posted this week. “I still support them and I cannot condone any animosity directed at them. It’s truly all the best people.”

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Studio of former Disco Elysium staff rename forthcoming detective RPG and shift from familiar isometric perspective as rivalry continues

by admin September 18, 2025

Dark Math Games, a new studio of former Disco Elysium developers, have announced a change to their forthcoming debut project, which will now be a third-person RPG.

The studio is one of many that have risen from the shattering of Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM, following years of legal threats, accusations of toxic behaviour, and layoffs.

While ZA/UM still exists and is working on a new project, other rival studios have formed to create their own spiritual successor to the isometric detective RPG.

Tangerine Antarctic – A true detective RPG. Dialogue Gameplay TrailerWatch on YouTube

Perhaps that’s why Dark Math Games has now shifted perspective. Formerly XXXNightshift, the studio’s forthcoming project is now known as Tangerine Antarctic and will be a third-person RPG instead of isometric.

“Set at the World’s End ski village at Mount Hope, British Antarctica, Tangerine Antarctic is the name of the in-game hotel, designed by renowned Estonian architect Kaur St&odblac;&odblac;r, where most of the games’ action takes place,” explained Timo Albert, founder and art director of Dark Math Games (formerly at ZA/UM).

“This is where you are stuck because of the blizzard and must solve the mysterious murders. And Tangerine Antarctic is one of the important characters of this true detective’s RPG.”

Image credit: Dark Math Games

Dark Math Games first revealed its formation and project in October last year. Simultaneously, other former developers announced the formation of their studio Longdue, while others still announced Summer Eternal.

There’s plenty of rivalry going on, then, but ZA/UM told Eurogamer earlier this year it’s all “friendly competition”.

“For us, always we think it’s friendly competition,” said principal writer Siim (Kosmos) Sinamäe. “We’re not going to really think about what the other writers are doing, or the studios… how can I be better at my own craft? We’re competing essentially against ourselves in this way of can we take it further? Do we have to make any compromises? I think it absolutely sets us apart.”

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Founders of Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds accuse parent company Krafton of “changing story mid-litigation”

by admin September 18, 2025

The founders and former leadership team of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds have successfully blocked Krafton’s request for a court-ordered protective order, claiming the publisher “chang[ed] its story mid-litigation about why it fired the founders and seized control over Unknown Worlds.”

New court papers from September 12 and seen by GamesIndustry.biz confirm the court dismissed Krafton’s forensic inspection request, without prejudice, and also denied Krafton’s order compelling preservation, calling the request “unnecessary.” Both parties are now expected to meet and confer.

Details of the legal complaint against Krafton, Inc. by the former leadership of Subnautica 2 developer Unknown Worlds became public in July. The complaint concerns a $250 million bonus payout tied to revenue targets for the 2025 Early Access release of Subnautica 2, which the former shareholders of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, represented by Fortis Advisors LLC, allege owners Krafton, Inc. sought to avoid paying out by delaying the game using “pressure tactics.”

In its defense, Krafton accused the three former leaders of then threatening to self-publish Subnautica 2, “releasing it without Krafton’s backing, marketing, promotion, or distribution.” This, Krafton claims, left it with “no choice but to terminate their employment.”

The company also alleged that Max McGuire, Ted Gill, and Charlie Cleveland downloaded tens of thousands of “company files” and emails in the lead up to these terminations and claimed the former leadership “refused” to return “or at the very least confirm” what devices and confidential information remained in their possession.

Now, the founders claim that while Krafton initially alleged it fired them because of the founders’ “supposed intention to proceed with a premature release of Subnautica 2,” and “withdrawn game readiness as a grounds to justify its actions,” it has now “pivoted to a new theory that it admittedly came up with only after the fact: that it terminated the Founders and seized control because the Founders backed up files they were entitled to access in their work for Unknown Worlds.”

“Krafton’s disorganized retreat raises more questions than answers,” the court filing stated. “To say Krafton’s new theory is a Hail Mary would be an understatement – both because the downloads were not wrongful and because Krafton claims not to have learned of them until after it had fired the Founders. The downloads cannot have been the actual motivation for termination.”

Consequently, lawyers for former CEO Ted Gill, co-founder and creative director Charlie Cleveland, and co-founder and CTO Max McGuire requested that the court deny Krafton’s request for a forensic inspection, as well as dismiss a motion for a protective order on the grounds of its “shift in theories.”

Read our timeline of the former Subnautica 2 leads versus Krafton here.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Even the studio that wrote The Wolf Among Us 2 doesn’t know what’s going on with it

by admin September 18, 2025

Telltale’s second series-slash-sequel, The Wolf Among Us 2, has become notoriously hard to pin down. Originally announced in 2017, the game disappeared when Telltale closed in 2018, then it was resurrected in 2019 only to disappear again in 2023, amid what sounded like burnout from crunch. And we haven’t heard a peep since.

But I had a chance to speak to the studio which was originally making the game for Telltale (then a kind of publisher but now making the game internally, it seems) to see if I could find out what was going on. That original developer was AdHoc Studio, a team formed by former Telltale staff, many of whom worked on the original The Wolf Among Us game.

AdHoc co-founder Nick Herman directed the first episode of The Wolf Among Us (known as “Faith”), and he told me AdHoc was working on the follow-up, The Wolf Among Us 2, for about two years. But as to why the studio stopped working on it, he said: “Look, the truth is…”

The Wolf Among Us 2.Watch on YouTube

He was interrupted by fellow co-founder Pierre Shorette, another Telltale alumni, who asked with a smile, “Yeah why did we stop working on that, Nick?”

Put on the spot, Herman continued: “We wrote a season, Season Two. We think it’s better than Season One – and we were on Season One. And yeah, we’re really proud of it. We were doing tests. We were in cinematics and animation and stuff. And then basically they needed more time.

“They weren’t… We weren’t running the project. It was Telltale we were doing it in partnership with. And we couldn’t wait around and do nothing, so we had to move on to Dispatch to keep the studio moving, and they needed to go their own way.

“We’re looking forward to seeing what they do with it,” Herman added. “I don’t know how much of our version of the script is going to make it into what they end up making. But if one day we were able to make the thing that we wrote and were in the middle of directing, we think people would love it. So, you know, good luck.”

“Spicy,” added Shorette.

AdHoc’s new game Dispatch.Watch on YouTube

Dispatch – the game Herman mentioned – is the studio’s self-published debut game, released in partnership with role-play mega-group Critical Role and featuring some of the actors from there in the game. Award-winning actor Laura Bailey is one of them. Bailey was actually attached to Dispatch long before it was called Dispatch – even before AdHoc was working on The Wolf Among Us 2

The project back then was, bizarrely, linked in a roundabout way with US retail giant Walmart – a company connected to Walmart anyway. And AdHoc’s fledgling live-action superhero idea got quite far. It had shoot dates and everything was going ahead but then March 2020 rolled around and Covid flattened it. A blessing in disguise, Herman joked. “You’re asking a bunch of game devs to shoot a TV show,” he said. “It would have been a fun failure.”

The studio moved onto The Wolf Among Us 2 after that, in a work-for-hire capacity, but when that project stalled, it returned to the superhero idea and Dispatch, as we know it now, was born.

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Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy formed from a recognisably Telltale cinematic choice-and-consequence mould, albeit with added mini-games, and it looks enormously promising. It stars Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul as Robert Robertson, a man who loses the use of his superpowered mech suit so needs to get a desk job dispatching misfit superheroes to fight crime. They are unruly. Many jokes ensue.

Notably, Dispatch will be an episodically released game, but all eight episodes will be released in quick succession over the course of a month – two a week starting 22nd October. It won’t be a case of waiting months for them. There’s a demo of Dispatch on Steam if you fancy giving the game a go.

After Dispatch, AdHoc will move onto making a fully fledged game for Critical Role, set in the fantasy world of Exandria, which is where the group’s acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons adventures have taken place.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Battlefield 6 players on PS5 and Xbox can block PC users from crossplay, as studio takes “cheating extremely seriously

by admin September 17, 2025

Battlefield 6 will include console-only crossplay, meaning Xbox and PlayStation players can avoid those pesky cheating PC players.

Senior console combat designer Matthew Nickerson detailed to IGN the online shooter’s crossplay options, activated with a simple on/off toggle. Turned on, console players will be prioritised before PC players fill a lobby. Turned off, and only console players will be included across both PlayStation and Xbox. The option is turned on by default.

“We’re very confident but also very keen to what crossplay means for Battlefield 6,” said Nickerson. “We’ve gone the extra mile and put in a lot of effort in terms of balancing the inputs, understanding where the inputs lie [not just] in terms of relationship to general play styles but general performance of what they’re good at and maybe what they lack.”

Battlefield 6 Official Reveal TrailerWatch on YouTube

Cheating is a major issue across online shooters, with PC players being the most likely to cheat. That’s why console players often prefer to exclude them, if possible.

Technical director Christian Buhl said Battlefield Studios is “taking cheating extremely seriously”.

“Obviously, cheating is much more prevalent on PC than on console, but we are taking a lot of effort, putting a lot of work into prioritising fighting against cheaters,” he said. “We’ve turned on secure boot. We’ve got Javelin, our new anti-cheat system, which is required in order to play.

“So, we’re doing a lot on the PC side to clamp down on cheating as much as possible. We have a whole team within Battlefield dedicated to anti-cheat, which includes engineers, analysts who are reviewing things and banning players, and figuring out what the latest cheats are. We have another whole dedicated team at EA to anti-cheat that we work closely with. That’s what I can say. Now, we can never win against cheaters, right? Cheaters will always be there. It’s a never-ending cat-and-mouse game. I can’t promise that there will be zero cheaters if you’re playing against PC players. That’s just simply not possible, but I can say that we are being extremely aggressive. We see this as critical to the success of – to the health of – the game.”

Console players also use aim assist to balance play with PC players using mouse and keyboard for increased accuracy. But aim assist has been “completely redone” from Battlefield 2042, said Nickerson.

“We’ve added aim assist for what we call our ‘combat triangle’ now – and that’s infantry versus infantry, infantry versus vehicles, and vehicles versus vehicles – to give that cohesive experience if you are on controller, compared to, maybe, something that’s a little bit easier on keyboard and mouse. So [we’re] very dedicated to crossplay, and we’re trying to nail it across multiple vectors when it comes to crossplay. It’s just such an important aspect for us and for Battlefield 6.”

It’s all part of the studio’s console-first approach. It’s this that’s led to strong optimisation across consoles.

Buhl explained to Kotaku the team struggled to get the game running on Xbox Series S due to its lack of memory, with levels crashing. As a result, the team has optimised memory usage in the game which has in turn made the “whole game better and more stable”.

Battlefield 6 will release on 10th October across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Just don’t expect a Switch 2 release any time soon.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Ghost Of Yotei Studio Still ‘Hungover’ From Celebrating GTA 6 Delay

by admin September 10, 2025

How much champagne do you charge to the company credit card when GTA 6 mercifully shifts out of your release window? Which celebrity will star in Cyberpunk 2? And what game are Helldivers 2‘s devs working on next? Welcome to another edition of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news and culture.

People are buzzing about Jump Space, the sci-fi co-op adventure about blowing up spaceships with friends. It comes to Early Access next week and already has an impressive post-launch roadmap of updates lined up. How many more cool ship games will we get before Starfield‘s next expansion arrives?

It was a good day in the Sucker Punch offices when GTA 6 delayed

Ghost of Yotei is one of the biggest game releases of the fall, at least now that GTA 6 has been delayed to May 2026. Creative director Nate Fox was asked about that moment in a new rapid-fire interview with MinnMax (via VGC). “When GTA 6 was delayed, did the entire studio pop some champagne?” host Ben Hanson asked. “We’re all still hungover. Multi-month hangover,” Fox responded. “That was a great day.”

Yotei‘s October 2 release date was announced before Rockstar revealed its delay, locking in its fate one way or the other. Fortune favors the bold. Now lots of games that were waiting to come out until 2026 to escape the GTA 6 gravity well are faced with a new conundrum: get out ahead of it or come out later in the year and risk stumbling into a second GTA 6 delay?

Helldivers studio’s next game will have a Destiny-style social hub

But what is it, exactly? Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani seemed to be speaking off the cuff when he responded to a fan in the game’s Discord who requested a place where Helldivers 2 players can hang out in between drops. “It’s on the feature list for the next one,” Jorjani teased. What next one? Helldivers 3? Nope.

“This was about our next game. Not HD3,” he added on Reddit. Some fans are wondering if it’s a nod to the studio’s isometric fantasy multiplayer series Magicka. The studio has already confirmed that its next project, whatever it ends up being, won’t be published by Sony.

Fans think GTA 6 parody website names have leaked

The open-world blockbuster is still over six months away, but in the meantime players may have some fresh teases to parse. What seem like in-game website names appear to have been registered as real internet domains by Take-Two back in May. They include what-up.app, rydeme.app, and wipeoutcornskin.com. I don’t know if we’re ready for GTA 6 in the post-internet, algorithmic slop phase of lampooning pop culture.

Will Johnny Silverhand return in Cyberpunk 2?

Because Keanu Reeves would be happy to do it if CD Projekt Red wants him back. “Absolutely,” he told IGN when asked about reprising the role. “I’d love to play Johnny Silverhand again.” Effectively a virtual ghost in the first game, there’s no reason Silverhand would need to come back in a sequel, but also nothing precluding it either. Cyberpunk 2 is set to return to Night City but also take players to a new location likened to “Chicago gone wrong.”

Satoru Iwata laughed when he heard about trying to sell Animal Crossing in America

Veteran Nintendo localizer Leslie Swan told Time Extension that’s how the former president of the company reacted when she told him they were translating the cozy sim. “He just laughed and said, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to do this.’ And it’s true, just everything in that game was so specific to Japan,” she said.

Long-time producer Takashi Tezuka was not confident either. “[Tezuka] basically said to me, ‘We’d like to have you localize it’ and I said, ‘Sure.’ But then he said, ‘No, Leslie, I’m not sure you understand, it’s going to be difficult.’” Swan recalled. “And I kept having to assure him that we would make it happen.” Decades later, the franchise is now one of the best selling in the world.

ICYMI:

Silksong is harder than Hollow Knight, but is that a problem?

Tech is beyond parody: even Black Mirror is getting a meme coin

Digimon Story: Time Stranger might be the best JRPG of the fall

Watch this:

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Battle Suit Aces, The Latest From Battle Chef Studio Trinket, Launches Its Mecha Card Battle Action This October

by admin September 9, 2025

It’s almost time to shuffle up and get in the robot. Game Informer can exclusively reveal that Battle Suit Aces, the new mecha card-battling game from Trinket Studios, will arrive on October 7 for PlayStation 5, Switch, and PC.

Trinket Studios made a splash with 2017’s Battle Chef Brigade, which mixed side-scrolling action with a match-3 puzzle system to portray a fantasy cooking competition. Similarly, Battle Suit Aces also blends several genres and concepts; in a card-fighting RPG, you follow the USS Zephyr and its crew through a planet-hopping voyage across the stars to try and stop a looming, universe-endangering threat.

Card battles play out on a board, where you can deploy your team of mechs, pilots, and drones to combat the enemy, trying to strike through their lines and destroy their base before they do the same. Between missions, you’ll be able to recruit and get to know your crewmates, as well as upgrade their mech suits.

Trinket is planning numerous story missions driven by both the plot and your recruited cast of characters, as well as a story influenced by the factions you support and the relationships you build. Different Factions can also help you lean into your chosen playstyle, too, opting for specific methods of crushing your enemies with your small army of pilot pals and giant mecha.

No word on exact pricing just yet, but Trinket Studios has confirmed it will launch Battle Suit Aces on PlayStation 5, Switch, and PC via Steam.

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September 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Future of PlayStation live service project, Fairgames, thrown into further doubt as director leaves studio

by admin September 1, 2025

Daniel Drapeau, recently the game director on Fairgames at Haven Studios, has announced his new role as a creative director over at Warner Bros Montreal.

The move adds further doubt to the status of Fairgames, the live-service shooter published by Sony, following the departure of studio founder Jade Raymond.

Drapeau announced the change in a LinkedIn post: “As of this week, I joined WB Games Montreal Inc. as Creative Director. I can’t wait to start this wonderful adventure with all the great people here at the studio. I also want to particularly thank Yves Lachance, Logan A. Lesage and Bryan Theberge for their trust and support throughout the process. Now, let’s do this!”

Here’s that original Fairgames reveal trailer, back when it had the $ in its name.Watch on YouTube

There’s no word on what game Drapeau is working on as of writing, as nothing is listed on his Linkedin. We do know that Warner Bros is working on a new live service title, thanks to an executive producer job listing over at Warner Bros Montreal no less. Whether or not Drapeau is working on this project or something else entirely remains unconfirmed.

While this is a nice bit of news for Warner Bros Games, especially given the recent overhaul of its leadership team, it marks another wound for Fairgames. The game, first announced in May 2023, has been a ghost ever since, beyond Ramond’s departure earlier this year.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

NetEase shut down studio of Fallout and Star Wars alumni who were making an online sci-fi action game

by admin September 1, 2025

NetEase have shut down T-Minus Zero Entertainment, a studio founded in 2023 by former BioWare developer and Star Wars: The Old Republic executive producer Rich Vogel.

The studio had been working on an online multiplayer sci-fi action game, with contributions from a number of ex-BioWare and Bethesda staff including Fallout 76 design lead Mark Tucker and senior producer Scott Malone. However, that project and T-Minus Zero Entertainment’s on-going existence are not a good fit for “current market conditions”.

Vogel announced the end of NetEase’s partnership with T-Minus in a LinkedIn post on 26th August. Game Developer have now obtained confirmation that the studio has been closed down, in the absence of other funding.

“Every journey has its twists and turns, and ours with NetEase is coming to an end,” Vogel writes in the LinkedIn statement. “We deeply appreciate NetEase for providing us with both ample runway and support – from helping us find potential investors to giving us the time and budget to develop our game into a fully playable hands-on demo. It has generated a lot of interest. However, despite this progress, current market conditions have prevented us from securing the funding we need at this time.”

Vogel goes on to celebrate his team’s “dedication and passion” adding that “now may not be the best time to seek funding given today’s climate, but our playable demo proves our potential to develop something fresh and exciting that will resonate with players for years.”

As Game Developer report, senior NetEase staff have commented on the post to praise the bygone studio’s work, with former NetEase president of global investments and partnerships Simon Zhu commenting that the prototype “delivers [the] great fantasy of fighting against 15th floor kaiju to protect the city you care about” while NetEase head of brand/publishing for North America & Europe Cisco Maldonado called it a “super great concept and [in my opinion] a solid market fit”.

Approached for comment, a NetEase spokesperson told Game Developer that “this decision was made with careful consideration, as we have been inspired by our partnership with the studio and their bold vision. However, we have had to reassess our business priorities and are now working closely with the studio to provide support and explore next steps.”

NetEase have been cutting staff and projects recently, after investing in several studios founded by big names in the triple-A business. Last November, they called time on Worlds Untold, a studio founded by former Mass Effect writer Mac Walters. In January this year, they did likewise for Jar Of Sparks, the studio founded by former Halo Infinite head of design Jerry Hook. In February, they trimmed down the Marvel Rivals development team and made layoffs at Liquid Swords, the studio founded by Avalanche co-founder Christofer Sundberg.

Best of luck to all the former T-Minus Zero Entertainment employees now looking for a safe port.

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Yakuza: Like A Dragon Studio Announces RGG Summit And Direct For Next Month

by admin August 29, 2025

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team behind the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise, has announced it will hold an RGG Summit next month, immediately followed by an RGG Direct. The summit will bring “the latest info directly from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio,” on Wednesday, September 24, at 4 a.m. PT/7 a.m. ET, and the RGG Direct following it will give “a closer look at some of the studio’s latest announcements.”

As for what to expect at the Summit and Direct, RGG doesn’t tease anything, though it has various projects in the works like Stranger Than Heaven, a new Virtua Fighter, and almost assuredly, a new Like A Dragon project. The studio also recently released Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, which features new cutscenes and more, exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2, and fans are hoping the team might bring it to other platforms.

If you’re looking to set your expectations, last year’s summit included the reveal of Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Who knows what we might see at this year’s event, but it’s less than a month away, so we don’t have to wait too long.

In the meantime, read Game Informer’s Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii review, and then read our Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth review after that.

What do you hope to see at this year’s RGG Summit and Direct? Let us know in the comments below!

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August 29, 2025 0 comments